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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. bat — the animal
  8. wake — a trail
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. wound — an injury
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. lean — to bend
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. fork — in a road
  15. lean — thin
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. date — the fruit
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. bark — to shout
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com